Mobile devices, such as for example cell phone and personal digital assistants (PDA), are increasingly being equipped with peripheral devices that enable the mobile devices to capture and process multimodal information. Examples of such multimodal information include, but are not limited to, audio, image, video, structured text, free hand text, bar codes, and free hand sketches.
Such mobile devices are often used as personal information assistants or personal shopping assistants and used to gather and store different types of data often collected from multiple different locations. In some cases, a user may use a mobile device to collect and store individual multimodal data associated with a project, such as for example, a room decorating project. Examples of such multimodal data may include pictures of the room, the dimensions of the room, desired furniture items, the desired placement of such furniture items, and desired decorative accessories.
The user may retrieve the multimodal data stored in the mobile device when the user visits, for example, a retail store to purchase project related items. The user may retrieve the stored multimodal data for review by in-store personnel and seek the advice of such personnel regarding the purchase of items relating to the project, or decorating tips. An effective annotation system may enable a user to collect and organize the different multimodal items associated with a project.